The present invention relates to monitoring conditions of a vehicle. It finds particular application in conjunction with monitoring tire conditions of a vehicle and will be described with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention is also amenable to other applications.
It is becoming more common in modern motor vehicles to monitor tire conditions (e.g., inflation). Maintaining the correct tire conditions helps maintain safe, efficient, and economical operation of the vehicle. Abnormal tire conditions may result in excessive tire wear, blow-outs, and poor fuel mileage.
Conventional tire condition monitoring systems typically include radio frequency (RF) sensors associated with respective tires of the vehicle. The sensors include RF transmitters that transmit intermittent signals indicating tire conditions (e.g., pressures, temperature, etc.) in the respective tires of the vehicle. One or more antennas placed throughout the vehicle receive the tire condition signals from the various transmitters. The antennas are electrically connected to a central electronic control unit (ECU) via electrical cables. The RF signals from the transmitters, which are received by the antennas, are transmitted from the antennas to the central ECU via the cable.
In order to avoid signal loss, the electrical cabling (which is independent of any on-board communication system such as a J1939 network) includes coaxial cable with relatively expensive shielding and connectors. Furthermore, a central ECU is relatively expensive since it must be able to constantly listen for radio frequency signals from the sensors (which requires relatively higher processing speed), perform control logic for pressure monitoring (which requires relatively slower processing speed), and communicate with the other vehicle systems.
The present invention provides a new and improved apparatus and method for monitoring tire conditions on a vehicle.